ShenNongJiaLinQu

The Shennongjia Forest Zone in eastern Hubei Province shares its border with Chongqing Municipality in the west and Baokang County of Hubei Province in the east. With an area of 3,253 square kilometers (about 803,833 acres), Shennongjia contains four towns, four villages, one national forest park and one national natural reserve area. Because of its marvelous natural scenery, rare foliages, endangered animals and famous legends such as the mysterious "Wild Man" (Chinese Yeti) said to be found in the mountains, the Shennongjia Forest Zone has attracted many tourists every year, amongst them researchers and scientists. Shennongjia was named after a very famous Chinese chief in prehistoric time, Shennong, also known as Yandi. He was believed to be one of the two ancestors of Chinese people (the other was Huangdi ). He invented crockery, discovered herbal medicine by personally tasting herbs and taught his people how to cultivate. It is said that while Shennong tasted herbs here, he suffered from poisoning more than seventy times! However in the end, he managed to discover many useful herbal medicines. To commemorate his great work, he became the namesake for the land we speak of today, Shennongjia.